Remote Access to the Courts

Since the start of the pandemic, CAOC has focused on keeping the courtroom doors open to ensure Californians have access to justice. The courtroom doors quickly turned virtual, as many industries, including our Judicial Branch, shifted to remote services to continue to operate and do so in a safe and efficient manner.

CAOC is a strong supporter of remote access to the courts and worked with legislative leadership and stakeholders like legal aid and dependency counsel to craft SB 241 (Umberg-2021). That bill was given a very short sunset of July 1, 2023. We worked to extend that sunset by sponsoring SB 21 (Umberg-2023). The provisions of that bill were folded into the budget and ultimately extended the expiring sunset until January 1, 2027.

Considering the deficit looming over California, CAOC will advocate to retain current essential court funding, especially funding to ensure remote technology is operational and functioning to serve every county.